Cardboard house

I borrowed a book from Jenn that gives great ideas for making playthings from items around your house, specifically for 12 month olds. It's been great! We made shakers with the baby food jars, and we have several new hand-clap games and songs, but the greatest success, by far, has been the cardboard house.

I was a UPS package (and Mando was the UPS man----we stole your idea, Missy) for Halloween, and instead of breaking down the box and stuffing it back into storage, I decided to make a little house for Nicholas. Now, MY idea was to cut off the bottom flaps, make a roof, cover the whole thing in parchment paper, and then decorate it so it looked like a tiny little house---complete with flower planters and a doorbell, etc. But as soon as I turned the box sideways to start cutting off the flaps, Nicholas started crawling in and out, in and out, in and out. Like a little tunnel. He was really mad when I turn it over to cut the door in the front. But as soon as I cut the door in the front, he started crawling in and out of the door. He LOVED IT! I couldn't do anything else to it because he wouldn't let me near it.
Pretty sad looking, huh?

He has taken full custody of the box and everyday he finds a new way to play in it.
1. A tunnel
2. go in the door, stand up, peek over the top until Mommy sees, scream and duck back down, crawl out the door. Repeat ad naseaum.
3. stand outside, pull top flap down (I have them taped up to make the box taller) throw something in (usually Dr. Macharet's card, see previous post), try to climb up the side of box until it collapses in on itself, throw it to the side until retrieval of card is possible, loudly protest the flatness of the box until Mommy sets it upright again. Repeat.
4. Go inside tunnel, try to stand up, push head against top of box as hard as I can.... or, if the door is on top, poke head through the door.
And the list will continue to grow, I think. I'm not going to do any more decorating or construction on the house because I think he would lose interest.

(Here's a nice shot of my first-ever attempt at cloth diapering.....it was not as successful as I would have liked. It stayed on, but I doubt it would have prevented any pee from getting all over the carpet. Luckily, Nicholas poured an entire cup of water on himself---which I left too close to the table edge---before we had to test the sturdiness of my diapering).

The only frustrating part about all of this is that the box is totally unsteady---meaning, if I'm not sitting right there holding the side, it will fold in on itself and become totally flat and useless to him as a toy.

So.... it's really cute to watch him play, but I can only handle so much before I get antsy and want to get something done. I need to find a sturdier box.